2026-05-08
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Finance & Investments
Coatue Management, a major US investment firm, led the round, the third in seven months to roughly double Kalshi's valuation.
The platform's annualized trading volume hit $178B, more than tripling in six months, with around 2M monthly users betting on sports, politics, and more.
Kalshi is courting hedge funds and brokerages as its next growth lever, with institutional trading volume up 800% over the past six months.
The racing business, a subsidiary of media giant Liberty Media, turned a $64M profit this quarter by hosting an additional event.
Motorcycle racing series MotoGP, a recent $4.5B acquisition by the group, contributed $94M in revenue to the strong quarterly growth.
Despite this financial success, the company faces a $115M revenue drop after canceling two lucrative Middle Eastern races due to regional conflict.
Aditya Mittal, CEO of steel giant ArcelorMittal, partnered with sports investor Wyc Grousbeck to submit a purchase offer for the NFL franchise.
The Seahawks are valued at $6.59B, meaning a final sale will likely break the current $6.05B record for an NFL team.
The franchise is being auctioned by the estate of late owner Paul Allen, with all proceeds legally mandated to fund charitable causes.
Private equity firms RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital offered each school up to $30M to navigate rising athletic costs.
Over half the schools declined the funds to avoid a repayment plan that would shrink their annual conference revenue payouts.
The broader partnership still proceeds with a $12.5M investment directly to the conference to help generate new commercial revenue.
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Media, Broadcasting & Sponsorships
Starting in 2031, sports merchandiser Fanatics and its Topps brand will replace Italian publisher Panini as the exclusive producer of World Cup trading cards.
This agreement drives global expansion for US-focused Fanatics, supporting its goal to generate over $4B in total collectibles revenue by 2026.
The lost license damages Panini, which relied on $1.5B in projected 2030 World Cup sales, complicating its current efforts to find a buyer.
Middleman companies buy leftover, untargeted ad space on streaming platforms and resell it to small local businesses at a markup.
These unauthorized brokers falsely guarantee premium ad placements during exclusive events like the Masters, which is technologically impossible to deliver.
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Teams & Leagues
The new limit is a 9% jump from the current $95.5M cap, driven by the professional hockey league's growing $7B annual revenue.
The mandated minimum budget per team will rise to $76.9M.
This larger budget creates a $20.8M individual player maximum, giving team managers more cash to sign big contracts for star free agents.
The US governing body for soccer built its first permanent headquarters and training facility in Georgia for $250M.
This major investment helps the organization match top global teams by ending a long history of renting practice spaces.
The massive complex includes 17 outdoor fields and indoor courts to centralize coaching, referee training, and player development.
The global surfing circuit hired Raine Group, a major sports advisory firm, to manage potential buyouts or minority investments from interested buyers.
Annual viewership recently jumped 40% to 80M fans as the sport benefits from Olympic exposure and a successful shift to online streaming.
Private equity firms or media companies could invest to capture the league's young fanbase that largely ignores other traditional mainstream sports.
The expanded tournament starts this season with a new 12-game opening round to fit the extra teams into the schedule.
TV networks CBS and TNT will pay the NCAA $50M annually until 2032.
This extra revenue covers operation costs and provides $130M in prize payouts for participating schools over the next six years.
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Miscellaneous
Media network Fox Sports will pay one candidate $50K to watch all 104 tournament matches over a 39-day period.
Working from a glass cube in Times Square, the hire will create social media content to engage casual pop-culture fans during the event.
Job-listing site Indeed partnered on this stunt to showcase its platform and generate more sports media hiring opportunities.
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